‘[O]ne thing we need to take from this pandemic, with all of the tragedy and loss, is we need to get our act together. We need to honor those we’ve lost by getting better at what we do every day,’ says WHO expert.
by Ciara Linnane
Market Watch
The global case tally of the coronavirus-borne illness COVID-19 climbed above 81.5 million on Tuesday, and the World Health Organization said the pandemic is not necessarily the big one that the world should brace for and urged people everywhere to learn from this crisis.
Speaking at the agency’s final press briefing for 2020, the WHO’s head of emergencies, Mike Ryan, said the coronavirus pandemic has been severe and affected every corner of the planet.
“But this is not necessarily the big one,” he said. “This is a wake-up call. We are learning now how to do things better — science, logistics, training and governance, how to communicate better. But the planet is fragile. We live in an increasingly complex global society. These threats will continue. If there is one thing we need to take from this pandemic, with all of the tragedy and loss, [it] is [that] we need to get our act together. We need to honor those we’ve lost by getting better at what we do every day.”